Utter chaos as key junctions have no signals

PUDUCHERRY: The traffic signals which stopped functioning after the landfall of Cyclone Thane at some of the key junctions in the town are yet to become functional.Since that time it is a scene of utter chaos  at the signal in front of the Odiansalai police station, one of the key junctions,as motorists and commuters find it extremely difficult to negotiate the area. The lights have not been working for nearly two months. In between, it worked for a few days and then stopped. The non-functioning of the signal creates a lot of problems for the commuters, says Selvaraj, amotorist who passes the signal to reach Bussy street on a regular basis.Interestingly, Odiansalai police station, Uzhavarsanthai, and Union minister V Narayanasamy’s office are all situated a few meters away from the signal.According to G P Palanivelu, SP (Traffic), the signal, which worked for a few days after the devastation of cyclone, was being repaired and would be functional in a day or two. The work on the Ajantha Theatre signal (which functions partially) is also progressing and would become fully operational in a couple of days.At the Nellithope junction, the signal is operated selectively, leaving it to the motorists to negotiate the traffic on their own. The traffic police posted at these junctions were not “visible” for most of the time.The junction at the Rajiv Gandhi Women and Children Hospital at Ellaipillaichavady requires immediate attention of the traffic police as people,including pregnant women, find crossing of the road extremely difficult. It is a fearsome sight that the motorists zoom past without even obliging the police man posted there.There are no electronically operated traffic lights and the traffic police hardly use the traffic island meant for manual control.Interestingly, chief ministerN Rangasamy, as soon as he assumed office around 10 months ago, ‘roamed the town’ to understand the traffic problems. Unfortunately there has been no progress on the traffic front, which has increasingly become a nightmare to the common man.